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Killer Bees Injure Two Workers At Picnic Island Park

It’s always a rule of thumb to never disturb a honeybee’s hive, especially aggressive ones. Well, two workers at the Picnic Island Park learned that the hard way after about 100,000 angry honeybees attacked them when they uncovered a hive full of them from an old tire.

The incident left both men, David Zeledon and Rodney Pugh, with many stings and had them ended up at the hospital to treat their injuries, according to the Tampa Tribune.

The day started with the men clearing up piles of wood and old tires from the Picnic Island Park. After removing the wood and tires from the entrance, they exposed a bee hive filled with Africanized honeybees. “It was a cloud of bees all over the place,” said Zeledon, 53. “There was nowhere to run.”

Zeledon then warned Rugh to run, who was working the backhoe. Both men tried to run away from the bees, but were unsuccessful after falling a couple of times with bees swarming all over their bodies. “It was like a thousand little knives poking me in my body,” Pugh, 41, told ABC Action News.

The two men nearly got about 100 stings during the bee attack. “It’s the worst feeling because you just had so many and they wouldn’t stop,” Pugh said.

The men were able to fend off the bees by hosing themselves with water. Zeledon and Pugh called their supervisors about the bee infestation and called a local company to have them exterminated, according to Greg Bayor, director of city parks.

Entomologist Jonathan Simkins of Insect IQ said that the bees were successfully exterminated. Simkins commented that the reason for the aggressiveness from the bees was because these particular bees are known for protecting their space.

Zeledon and Pugh were treated with antibiotics after suffering many stings. They were soon released from the Tampa General Hospital, where they were being treated.